Now Commenting On:

Twins alter pitching staff with roster moves

4/7/13: Anthony Swarzak gets the Twins out of a sixth-inning jam, inducing a routine double-play ball to short off the bat of Nolan Reimold

By Rhett Bollinger
/
MLB.com |

BALTIMORE -- The Twins made a couple roster moves before Sunday's game, as they recalled left-hander Pedro Hernandez from Triple-A Rochester to start against the Orioles and activated right-hander Anthony Swarzak from the 15-day disabled list.

Both had an impact in the 4-3 win over the Orioles. Hernandez allowed three runs in five innings with three strikeouts, and Swarzak earned the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

To make room for the two pitchers on the roster, right-hander Cole De Vries was placed on the 15-day DL retroactive to March 30 with a strained right forearm, and left-hander Tyler Robertson was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after Saturday's game.

Swarzak, who was placed on the DL on March 22 with two left rib fractures stemming from a horseplay incident in late January, is expected to be used as the club's long reliever. He also had his wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday but said he's fully recovered.

"It feels very good," Swarzak said. "There were a few weeks there in Spring Training where I wasn't sure how much time I'd miss and it was scary. But now that it was only five games and I'm back I feel ready to go."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he was happy to have Swarzak with the team, as the right-hander can eat up innings as a long reliever, considering he went four innings in his last Minor League outing on Tuesday.

"It's huge," Gardenhire said. "It turned out good last night because Josh [Roenicke] picked us up, but we were sitting there talking while [Vance] Worley was battling out there that we wished we had Swarzy. So this is huge having him back. He can do a lot of things for us."